During recent years there has been a high demand for home use diffusers configured to displace aromatic essential oils into the environment. Advocates for the industry tout the benefits of the essential oils beyond the aromatic quality and argue that the oils have properties that clean the air, killing bacteria and viruses, reduce the effects of a sickness, relieve stress, promote sleep, and numerous other positive attributes.
A typical diffuser or nebulizer includes a piezo transducer within a fluid reservoir and possibly a fan to more widely disperse the mist. Basic use of the diffuser includes, filing the reservoir with distilled water and then adding a few drops of an essential oil of choice directly into the water. Most thin oils will disperse fairly evenly throughout the reservoir and will be nebulized with the water to create an aromatic mist. The user may add more essential oil to the reservoir if a stronger aroma is desired.
While the process of using a typical diffuser is fairly simple, this arrangement does have limitations, including, but no limited to, difficulty changing from one aroma to another, the choice of oil is limited to thin or low viscosity oils, required cleaning of the transducer, and regular transducer failure.
If a user desires to change from one essential oil aroma to another, the user must move the unit to a sink or drain where the water can be poured from the reservoir and then the user must wipe down the inside of the reservoir in order to remove any residual oil film from the walls. Any oil that is left in the reservoir will contaminate the aroma of the next oil chosen and may damage the transducer. Once the reservoir is wiped, the user can refill the reservoir with distilled water and add drops of a new desired essential oil aroma and replace the diffuser to a location before restarting.
A user may desire to use an essential oil that has a thicker consistency or viscosity however; most thick oils will have a propensity to stay together in single mass or drop and will not disperse into the water. In this condition the oil will not be nebulized with the water and may damage the transducer once all of the reservoir water is used.
The typical diffuser also requires considerable maintenance for best efficiency and to protect the transducer. Some manufactures will require that the foil surface of the transducer is swabbed to remove oil and mineral residue after each use, others recommend soaking the transducer in a mild acid solution, such as citric acid or white vinegar in order to clean the surface of the transducer. When the transducer is not maintained, oil residue and mineral deposited will build up and the transducer will no longer efficiently nebulize water and may ultimately overheat and fail.
Other issues that may occur with a traditional diffuser includes the water and oil not being fully, or finely, nebulized, causing the water mist to fall quickly, coating the surface where the diffuser is placed with water and causing an essential oil build up on the surface. This condition may damage a counter top or the furniture where a diffuser is routinely placed. Additionally, the plastic parts on some diffusers will degrade from exposure to the essential oil; this may cause the plastic parts to change color, become tacky or brittle.
What is needed is a diffuser or nebulizer that creates a fine water mist, allows a user to easily change from one essential oil aroma to another, which can use any volatile oil regardless of thickness or viscosity, which is easy to maintain and is reliable.